The Song of the Shirt

“The Bridge of Sighs” by Thomas Hood (1844)

Like “The Song of the Shirt,” “The Bridge of Sighs” is a poem of social protest focused on a female victim; this time, Hood focuses on a homeless fallen woman—likely a prostitute—who commits suicide by jumping off a bridge. In both poems, Hood rebukes the “rarity” of “Christian charity” (Lines 43-44) and attempts to humanize distinct types of women on the margins of Victorian society. Read together, “The Bridge of Sighs” and “The Song of the Shirt” exemplify the breadth of social causes championed in Hood’s poetry.

“The Lay of the Laborer” by Thomas Hood (1844)

Similar to “The Song of the Shirt,” Hood’s later poem “The Lay of the Laborer” concerns itself with the plight of low-class workers. In this poem, Hood focuses on an unemployed fieldworker, who laments the poverty of his family and the lack of work. Described as one of “Adam’s heirs” (Line 75), the laborer experiences the same disregard and lack of Christian charity as the seamstress in “The Song of the Shirt” and the young woman in “The Bridge of Sighs.” In this poem, Hood explores how such unfortunate and unaddressed labor conditions could lead to violence from the disaffected poor.

“The Cry of the Children” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1843)

Hood’s contemporary Elizabeth Barrett Browning was also heavily involved in social causes and her poem “The Cry of the Children” lays bare the unsettling and cruel reality of child labor in the Victorian Era. Like Hood, Barrett Browning becomes the voice for a pathetic and ignored demographic, advocating for political and social change from a similarly Christian perspective.

“The Ballad of the Harp Weaver” by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1922)

Although written in a different era and context than Hood’s poems, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem harkens back to “The Song of the Shirt.” It similarly tells the story of an impoverished weaver, but in St. Vincent Millay’s poem, the weaver dies from the exhaustion of her final act: sewing beautiful clothes for her malnourished son. The poem’s pitiable narrative and reproachful tone owe much to “The Song of the Shirt”; “The Ballad of the Harp Weaver” demonstrates the lasting impact of Hood’s poetry.